Question

for a fe²⁺ ion in its ground electronic state:
how many electrons are there in the 4s orbital? number (enter an integer.)
how many electrons are there in the 3d orbitals? number (enter an integer.)
how many electrons are there in the 4p orbitals? number (enter an integer.)
how many unpaired electrons are there? number (enter an integer.)

Explanation:

Step1: Determine the electron configuration of Fe atom

The atomic number of Fe is 26. The electron configuration of Fe atom is \(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{6}4s^{2}3d^{6}\).

Step2: Form \(Fe^{2 +}\) ion

When \(Fe\) loses 2 electrons to form \(Fe^{2+}\), the electrons are lost from the 4s orbital first. So the electron configuration of \(Fe^{2+}\) is \(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{6}3d^{6}\).

Step3: Analyze the number of electrons in each orbital

• For the 4s orbital: Since the 4s electrons are lost first when forming \(Fe^{2+}\), the number of electrons in the 4s orbital is \(0\).
• For the 3d orbitals: From the electron configuration of \(Fe^{2+}\), the number of electrons in the 3d orbitals is \(6\).
• For the 4p orbitals: Looking at the electron configuration of \(Fe^{2+}\), the 4p orbitals are empty, so the number of electrons in the 4p orbitals is \(0\).
• For unpaired electrons: According to Hund's rule, for the \(3d^{6}\) configuration, there are 4 unpaired electrons.

Answer:

0
6
0
4